Fragment of the Dream
by Seifergrrl
Summary: When a spell goes awry, Sango, Miroku and Kagome find themselves in a world where they do not exist: where friend is foe, and their enemy is now their only ally... Dark. Angsty.
1. Prologue

I don't own the original setting or the Inu-Yasha folks. Obviously. ;D The story is mine, however.

**Fragment of the Dream**

**A Dark Alternative for Inu-Yasha**

**By Mandy "Seifergrrl" Lever**

**Prologue**

"All that blood, just for one lousy shard." His voice, conveying his irritation eloquently enough.

"It is one less shard that is capable of falling into the hands of Naraku, Inu-Yasha." The houshi's voice, a slight hint of reprimand.

"Na, na," again with the hanyou's voice, acknowledging the monk's statement, and letting the complaint go.

She would have to fast. They were coming to close. But she had to have him within range, to take them back and change time properly. The spell was already working; she'd diverted the flow of power, she's set her other self in the proper direction.

Onigumo would be free, and she would find love and peace in her hanyou's arms.

"What's that light?" A girl's voice, _that girl's_ voice. She'd seen the energy before the others. This did not surprise her.

"I don't know," said the taijya.

"I do." 

Of course Inu-Yasha would know better then anyone, she mused to herself. She wanted to call, 'Come running, Inu-Yasha, come running', but her tongue was stilled. She still had work to do. Timing was everything.

"It's not--" The houshi questions his judgment. 

"It is," but he's firm. He knows she's here.

But they were all coming together. Damn them. The invasive energies were as one; his bright spiri, the girl's echo of her own soul. The taijya's strength, the houshi's indomitable will. 

The eight-sided mirror before her rattled, an unfelt wind shaking it. She reached out to steady it, still focused on her desired result. Just a few moments more... if he got here before his companions did, she might still work to re-bind the red string of fate...

"I know it's her. I can smell her!"

"Her shin-dama-chu!"

"Ignore those soul-snatchers!"

Too much. Too much. Didn't he realize, it was his life she was trying to save? His life, with her? But he came with them! He came with them, and the spell was ruined.

The mirror shattered. Pieces flew outward; some penetrated her flesh, but she did not bleed nor feel pain. Others went elsewhere. She did not cry out until the energy she'd created around the Goshinboku flared uncontrollably; this she felt rip through her body to her tattered soul, flaying the remains.

Then she screamed.

Dimly, she heard him call his name, but sank into blackness before she saw his face.

When consciousness came, all she saw was him above her, his hands on her shoulders, shaking her ungently.

"Where are they?" he demanded, amber eyes bright. "Where are they! What did you do them, Kikyou? _What did you do!?"_


	2. Disorientation

**Fragment of the Dream **

**A Dark Alternative For Inu-Yasha**

**By Amanda "SeiferGrrl" Lever**

**Chapter One: Disorientation **

Kagome jolted awake to hands on her shoulder and a gnarled root jabbing uncomfortably into one kidney. The hands were gentle, unlike the root's placement. Both sensations made her all too aware that things were not right—she did not normally wake up at the base of the Goshinboku. To say the least, it was highly disconcerting.

"Where…?" she murmured.

She glanced about in confusion to see Sango leaned over her, her dark eyes swimming with concern.

"Kagome," she said slowly, "Inu-Yasha and Shippou... they're gone."

This roused Kagome instantly, and she sat upright with a suddenness that surprised them both. The young girl climbed to her feet with Sango's assistance, and saw only an apparently calm Miroku, sitting beneath another one of the trees, and looking off in the distance with his shakujo resting against his shoulder. Kirara sat at his feet, staring up at him with wide, crimson eyes.

It was a disturbingly pleasant day for such a moment of horrific confusion. The noon sun filtered through the green leaves of the trees, and a suffocating silence filled the glen. It was a tense quiet, however, which ruled the trio as they stayed together, looking in bewilderment for their supernatural companions. 

But the kogitsune Shippou and the hanyou Inu-Yasha were no where to be seen. 

"I've looked nearby," Sango said gently, "But I've seen no sign of either Shippou or Inu-Yasha, and Miroku seems to be in shock."

"Shock?" Kagome peered over Sango's shoulder toward the still-silent houshi, and then whispered, "He's not hurt, is he? I dropped my pack…"

"Your pack is by him. I found it," Sango reassured her, "But he isn't wounded." The taijya paused, sitting uncomfortably for a moment, before grabbing Kagome's hand, and drawing her away from the tree. 

"I didn't look much farther then the Goshinboku," Sango said, "Let's look a little further into the woods." 

The woods gave them no clues; deer and rabbit sign were all they found. Hours passed before they found the winding mountain road that shielded this village in its shadow. There was no trace of their companions. Kagome didn't like it at all; Inu-Yasha would abandon them like this. 

Trying to push such dark thoughts away, Kagome focused on more immediate trouble. "What's wrong with Miroku?" she asked, as Sango scouted the road.

Sango gave her a sharp glance, but reached out to take her hand, ignoring her question with a silence unnatural to her. 

"We'd best look toward the village, too," Sango said.

Her protest cut off by Sango's yank on her hand, Kagome was drawn away from the silent houshi. "But… I don't understand!"

Again, the taijya was grim and quiet. However, she didn't leave Kagome completely in the dark.  "When he's ready, he'll show you," she said tersely. "I think he just needs to time to himself for a moment. He… he was near hysterical when I woke up."

"Hysterical? Miroku?" Kagome gasped sharply. That didn't make any sense! The houshi was always so level headed, so . "What happened, Sango?"

"…the kazaana…" Sango's voice held confusion and fear, but she shook her head. "You'll have to just let him tell you, once he's ready." 

Fear shook Kagome to the core, preventing her couldn't say anymore. They could find nothing in the woods; once they came to the crest of the hill that overlooked the rice paddies of the village, the huts small in the distance, they realized that their companions were no where to be found. The men and women were going to and fro as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Women marched walk; children played, dogs barked, and life went on.

But something was wrong. Kagome could feel it like the presence of a shikon shard, tingling at the back of her neck. 

"We should turn back," she said finally. "If Miroku is as badly off as you say, I don't think we should leave him alone for too long."

Sango frowned slightly, but she turned, leading the poor Kagome after her, Sango's hand tightening around the poor time-displaced girl's. 

It took them little time to get back through the woods and the hills, but they never let go of each other; with Inu-Yasha gone and Miroku out of sorts, it seemed they only had each other to rely upon.

Despite everything she'd been warned about, Kagome  was unprepared for Miroku's damp eyes and frighteningly serene expression. Had he been weeping or upset, that might've been something, but the houshi stared at her placidly once they stood before him.

"Has Sango told you?" he asked, as he rose to his feet, disturbing Kirara and sending the small youkai to circle Sango's feet. 

"No, Miroku-sama," Kagome replied, trying to manage an even, calm tone to match Miroku's.

Sango looked away from them both, kneeling down to pick up her long-time youkai companion.

Miroku glanced to Sango, and then settled his staff against the tree, before reaching for Kagome's hands. His actions were careful and deliberate; her placed her fingers against the seal of the glove, and applied a gentle pressure.

The glove did not yield; it was as if solid, living flesh was beneath the barrier of cloth.

"Do you understand?" he asked.

"I…" Kagome's breath hitched in her throat. "Have you opened it, to be sure?"

"No," he admitted. "I was… I was afraid." His smile tightened, drawn like a rictus grin instead of the vital, friendly expression Kagome was so used too. 

Kagome hesitated uncertainly for a long moment, then reached to carefully untuck the flap; she pretended she didn't feel Sango's eyes on her back, didn't hear the hitch in Miroku's breathing as she loosened the soft protective cloth.

When she swept away the cloth, the sound of wind was absent.

"Kami-sama," Kagome whispered in a rush, as she slid two fingers along his newly whole hand, and found only a warm, soft palm beneath them. Miroku's eyes glazed slightly, swimming again.

"I don't understand," he rasped, his voice was wretched, choked hoarse by powerful emotions; wonder, fear, awe. "I don't at all. Why did it close?"

"I don't know," Kagome murmured, sliding her hand till her palm covered Miroku's. His hand convulsed, and then tightened about hers with a steely grip, and she gave a gasp of protest as her hand was painfully clenched.

"I'm sorry," he apologized immediately, releasing his grip. "I've just never felt..."

"It's alright." A smile was worn to assuage his fear, but she abandoned his hand to reach to grab Sango's wrist, pressing the taijya girl's hand into Miroku's. Even in the face of confusion and fear, Higurashi Kagome was more then able to further the matchmaking effort between the two who she just _knew were meant for each other. This, she decided, could be a very GOOD thing._

Ignoring the pair's bewildered looks, along with Sango's blushing and Miroku's stuttering, Kagome backed up two steps, and gave a weak grin. "Now you've felt it twice!"

Neither said anything, but Miroku kept his hand in Sango's, even as it dropped between them, the contact a heady thing for both of them.

Kagome beamed for a brief moment, then as the moment faded, she looked away. Her pack was there. Sango and Miroku were there.

Inu-Yasha and Shippou were not there.

And, she realized with dread settling in her belly, neither was Kikyou.

"Did you two see her?" Kagome asked slowly. 

No body answered. She looked back over her shoulder, and saw that her job had been done to well; Miroku and Sango were staring fitfully at each other; if Sango blushed harder, Kagome was certain she'd faint. Miroku wasn't faring much better.

She cleared her throat loudly, and made the pair jump. "Kagome-sama!" Miroku blurted. "Were you saying something?"

"Yes." Kagome tried not to be irritated, as it had been her idea to get the pair of them holding hands, and so asked again. "Did you two see her? See…"

"Kikyou?" Sango said haltingly. "Yes. I saw her."

"As did I," Miroku added.

"And she's gone, and Inu-Yasha and Shippou are gone…" Kagome murmured. "There was something she was holding in front her. A mirror."

"It broke," supplied Miroku. "I saw it… before I passed out, I suppose, and then… we were here."

"Is there a mirror here?" Kagome asked, kneeling to look through the grass.

"No. No shards of glass, either," Sango said; she reluctantly drew her hand from Miroku's to stand at Kagome's shoulder, before joining her to look in the grass. Both searched carefully in the grass and brush about the tree for any sign of glass or mirror.

They found brush, grass, sticks, more brush and dirt. No mirror.

"I think we're wasting our time here," Miroku said simply, looking away again. "We should head to the village, and see what can be found there. Maybe Kaede-sama sensed something."

"The village seemed peaceful when we were looking for signs of Inu-Yasha and Shippou," Sango said as she rose to her feet, brushing the dirt from her skirt. "But perhaps we'll find clues there." 

Miroku returned to the tree he'd been sitting under. He took up his staff, and helped Kagome get her pack righted on her shoulders. Sango's hiraikotsu was propped not far from them as well, and the taijya fetched her weapon as well.

There was something else wrong about the scene, Kagome thought as they left the grove of the Goshinboku. She couldn't place it, but she knew it was there. Something wrong… Something out of place.

Despite the trepidation that settled in their hearts, they headed through the woods back toward the shrine that had once housed the Shikon no Tama, and the hut in its shadow that had often housed the questing companions. 

They all hoped for the best, and feared the worst.


	3. Miko

Well, I amazingly got my second chapter back promptly from my beta! I haven't even written the third – but I'm going to work on it tonight! @.@ Promise! :D 

Anyway!

Enjoy the latest chapter! :D

**Fragment of the Dream**

**A Dark Alternative For Inu-Yasha**

**By Amanda "Seifergrrl" Lever**

**Chapter Two: Miko**

The village was not as they remembered.

The place that had once housed the shikon no tama, that would one day be Kagome's home, had never lacked vitality. Despite—or maybe because of—the trouble that came here so often, the villagers were a hardy breed; resilient, hard working, and as they watched the group work out of the shrine, struggling to reconstruct the shattered Shikon no Tama, they grew more and more tolerant of things odd and outlandish.

This village was a now strange to their eyes, like a dead reflection of the place they had known. The villagers were tired, thin and poor, moving to and from their jobs like zombies. There was not a face they recognized, and they were shunned by the populace.

"Something has gone terribly wrong," Miroku breathed, clenching his gloved hand into a fist.

"Should we go up to the shrine?" Kagome suggested. "Perhaps… Kaede-baba is there?"

A double set of nods were given, and the trio headed up the steps toward the shrine on the hill. Kagome paused for a moment, and then looked over her shoulder at the Goshinboku from the steps – and then froze, her mouth agape in shock.

"The tree! The _tree!" Her hands latched onto Sango's arm with a painful intensity, and she turned and pointed. _

They all looked to the Goshinboku, Sango and Miroku trying to figure out what she was pointing at.

"Kagome, what's wrong?" Miroku asked, peering over her shoulder. "I see nothing out of the ordinary."

"Here… here's where she shot him…" Kagome insisted, her voice rising in pitch.. "If she stood here, and pinned him to the tree there, then… why is there no place where the bark was stripped away by his body?" Her voice cracked, and she shrilled, "Why is there no scar on the tree?" If there was no scar, had there been no Inu-Yasha? Had Kikyou taken Inu-Yasha away so completely that even the Goshinboku didn't remember the boy that had been sealed against it?

All stood silent for a moment; in the chaos, none of them had looked at the Goshinboku, or realized the alteration to the God Tree. Now, it was made clear; Inu-Yasha had never spent half a century pinned to any of the trees in the grove around the shrine.

Sango's hands closed on Kagome's shoulders, and she gently turned the distraught girl away. "We'll ask those questions soon, Kagome-chan," the taijya promised her. "But we should keep going." Giving a fretful glance to Miroku, Sango worried. All they needed was to see something else strange and abnormal, and she was certain at least one of them was going to have a breakdown.

Kagome tried to pull away from Sango, but in the end her friend's strength pulled her back from the grove and guided her back to the stairs, this time forcing her to continue up to the shrine. Miroku's hand found Kagome's again, and this time she gripped him as tightly as he gripped her. 

Fear shared was fear lessened; while the sealed kazaana confused and the scarless Goshinboku disturbed, they clung to each other for support and found solace in each other on the long trip up the stairs.

Soon, they stood before the shrine's doors in silent contemplation.

It looked normal. There was damage to the roof and to the torii before them, where it had once been attacked by demons – perhaps even by the missing Inu-Yasha. It, at least, seemed a bastion of normality in this otherwise crazed world they had woken to.

At least, until they walked up and opened the doors and found themselves face to face with the kuromiko Tsubaki… Or that's who the aging, withered woman seemed to be. She was well into her seventies, wrinkled and frail, but the fall of white hair and the wickedly green eyes that stared into the trio's faces invoked memories of pain and suffering, struggle and hate.

Kagome fell back, her hand reaching for her bow. Tsubaki would not harm her again, if she could help it!

The woman who who looked like Tsubaki fell back, her eyes widening – and then threw up her hands and covered her head. "Mercy! We are merely miko, tending to this poor village! Mercy! We have nothing you could want!" 

Everyone stopped; a breath was collectively drawn by and held. This was not their fearsome enemy, was it? The woman who had played Kagome like a puppet against them, she'd never cower before three young travelers… even if Kagome had reached for her weapon.

"Hold," Miroku said gently, first to recover. "We are not here to rob or hurt you, miko-sama," he explained to the woman. "We seek the senior miko of this temple."

"If you seek the senior miko," the woman with the eyes of Tsubaki said, "you must depart. She sees no one." 

"But we're lost!" Kagome protested, panic in her voice. "And nothing is the same!" 

Miroku lifted his hands again as Sango tried to shush the frightened girl, attempt to explain… but those green eyes were fixed on Kagome's distressed countenance and sought nothing else.

"Oh gods…" the miko uttered, before making a gesture of warning. "I recognize your face! Your face is her face!" The miko stumbled back, expression twisting up in horror, her gnarled hands dancing through a gesture of warding. "B-But she had no child with him," she stammered. "He didn't touch her body… and half-breeds sire no young… he didn't touch her, even after his ascension to power… You can't be their offspring! Who are you?"

The accusing question hung between them, the air pregnant with anxiety. Sango's hands held ice; Kagome was as still as death. There was only one other woman who could have her face.

Miroku dared to shatter the silence again when the others seemed frozen in shock. Left to function as the voice of the group once more, he cleared his throat, and then asked, "Is your senior miko… Kikyou-sama?"

"Who else was the lady of the Shikon no Tama?" The elder miko laughed bitterly, her lip curled with disdain. "You've come looking for her. Well, fine. Come in. Botan and Momiji will see to your needs." The miko finally stepped back from the door, and allowed the three to enter. 

Her eyes never left Kagome as they stepped into the shrine of the Shikon no Tama.

It was mostly as they remembered it; the room dark and empty, with braziers lit and incense burning, a warmth spreading through the air that didn't quite touch the trio. It was simply a meeting hall, for services to be held and prayers to be received; the chamber of the Shikon no Tama was elsewhere.

The miko lead them away to a small room off the main hall, and allowed them to sit for a moment. She then stepped out into the hall and clapped her hands. "Botan! Momiji!"

"Yes, Tsubaki-sama!" chimed two young voices.

Sango and Miroku tried not to flinch when they heard Kagome's soft whimper. The woman's identity was confirmed. It was as if they were in the house of their enemy, instead of their ally, and none were at ease.

The woman who was Tsubaki the Kuromiko gave the unseen girls orders for tea and rice cakes; she then returned to her guests, bowed slightly, and declared with a politeness lacking any warmth, "I will fetch Kikyou-sama for you. It may be a little time before she is able to come to you. Please, rest and be comfortable in the meantime. You are our first guests in some time."

All three bowed, finding solace in the simple courtesies, and Tsubaki left them alone.

"We're not in the right place," Kagome murmured hollowly, echoing all three's fears. 

"On the contrary, I believe we're in the right place," Miroku said simply. "But in the wrong time."

"Wrong time?" Sango looked at Miroku as if he were daft. "What do you mean…?"

"Kikyou was working a spell at the Goshinboku," Miroku reminded them. "The wood of the Goshinboku is what built the well that connects our country and Kagome-sama's; her time and our own. She was a miko of great skill and no small power; she could exploit that connection. Perhaps create a moment out of time for herself… and Inu-Yasha?"

"But … she could hardly want to rule this empty village," Sango offered. "If she's still a miko, then she hasn't… then…"

"Then Inu-Yasha and Kikyou's promise was still broken," Kagome supplied for them both, seeming to confirm Sango's suspicion and filling her own heart with dread. "Inu-Yasha wasn't sealed, but he did not become human, and the Shikon no Tama was not purified."

"But… Tsubaki mentioned… a half-breed…" Sango began haltingly, her eyes darting to meet Miroku's.

"Yes. I would have to assume that means that Kikyou and Inu-Yasha were at odds once again…" Miroku offered, then considering. "If he is indeed the hanyou they're speaking of…" 

"Who else would it be?" Kagome asked. She paused, her eyes scanning the walls, as if seeking something.

"Kagome-sama?" 

The young girl let a breath hiss between her teeth, and her hands fisted on her knees. Sango and Miroku waited, the tension drawn out like her bowstring.

"There's no Shikon no Tama here, either," Kagome said softly, reaching up to grip the vial she had beneath her blouse. "It's gone. Someone has taken the Shikon no Tama from the shrine."

Her eyes were dark, as she looked toward the door. "Something came between them again," Kagome said softly. "But this time, Inu-Yasha escaped with the Shikon no Tama."

"You can't be certain," Miroku began, but his voice was lost as Kagome continued.

"No, I can't. We'll find out from Kikyou, though, I'm sure," Kagome offered. "But I just can't shake this feeling…" 

"What feeling?" Sango said.

"That this time… Kikyou failed."


	4. Explanation

**Fragment of the Dream**

**A Dark Alternative For Inu-Yasha**

**By Amanda "Seifergrrl" Lever**

**Chapter Three: Explanation**

"You do realize," Inu-Yasha said, eyes bright with an emotion somewhere between rage and hate, "You aren't moving a fucking _step from this temple till you till me __everything."_

Kikyou sat in silence before her irate almost-lover and the whimpering kitsune cub that had joined him early in his quest to find the shattered Shikon no Tama. The kitsune's soft sniffles didn't move her cold spirit, but Inu-Yasha's rage battered her heart like the typhoon's gale winds. He was angry at her for what she'd done, and he didn't even realize that she'd done it with him in mind.

"Kikyou!" he barked again, fangs flashing. "Tell me what happened!"

Her arm arched, and she focused on the pain to keep her calm. His grip had been painful; had her body been flesh and bone, he would have surely discovered the black marks of his fingers in her flesh. But did he, not weeks ago, promise that he would always protect her? And yet, he'd done her more harm then Naraku could do to her now?

_"Kikyou!"___

_"Let go of me." _

Never before had Kikyou's voice so battered Inu-Yasha, nearly sweeping his hand from he arm with physical force. He released her without a bit of protest, and flexed his now empty hand. But he didn't stop talking, though he lost momentum and certainty, "K-Kikyou…"

"Stop." she snapped, lashing him with her words. "You have no idea, not even the most remote _thought_ for what you disturbed."

"I know you were casting spells at the foot of the damn God Tree!" Inu-Yasha snarled as his anger renewed. "And I want to know why! And I want to know where Kagome is! And Miroku and Sango! What did you do with them?" 

"Nothing," she retorted, her eyes fixing darkly on his. "Nothing… intentionally."

"_Intentionally?!"__ The hanyou's rage knew no bounds. "So what the hell did you _unintentionally _do to them?"_

"I don't know."

That shut him up. Silence descended like the stillness preceding a storm in the wake of his raging, and he simply stood there, staring down at the miko he'd dragged from the clearing, the clearing that they had both died in, and simply _looked_ at her.

"You don't know."

"No," Kikyou confirmed with no relish or enjoyment. "I don't. If I did, I would tell you, Inu-Yasha."

Dropping down to squat before her, resting his weight on the balls of his feet, his arms on his knees, he peered at her quizzically. There was something amiss here, but it was not in her words. She was being honest, that much he could tell. It made him put aside his anger, but left in it's wake a certain apprehension that he could not leave alone so easily.

"You're telling me that the miko of the Shikon no Tama was had gone to work a ritual, and she has no idea what it might do if it backfired?" To say he sounded skeptical was an understatement. Sarcasm dripped from every word, and hurt her as surely as his claws could. His golden eyes narrowed to slivers, as he glared at her. "I think that's a load of horse shit!"

Weathering his anger with her own as a shield, Kikyou stiffly replied, "I can give you a theory, if it will make you feel better,". 

"Yes! Yes it will!" Inu-Yasha snapped, furrows of aggravation dug between his scrunched brows. "And it will prevent me from getting angrier!" 

Kikyou took a breath, and then began slowly, biting off the words as if she thought she was being forced into a needless explanation. What did she care for those people, anyway? If they were out of the way, she could be with Inu-Yasha, without that girl... "The Goshinboku is a special tree; its roots reach throughout time," she began. "The Bone-Eating Well is made of the same wood, creating the connection between our time and that girl's time." Her tone gave no second guessing to how she felt about Kagome; she had the same regard for her reincarnation that most had for trash.

Inu-Yasha's brows knitted at the way she referred to Kagome, but didn't bother to correct her. "Go on," he urged gruffly.

"Using a blessed mirror, I sought to focus the power of the Goshinboku," Kikyou said, her voice steady. "I did so; I manipulated the threads of time; I steered the fates of our past selves; leading us back to each other, leading Onigumo's band away from the village with foul weather and wild beasts." 

Her eyes flickered to him for a brief moment. "And then you arrived."

Ignoring Inu-Yasha's increasingly impatient experssion, she continued with only a breath's pause, "The spell was disrupted. I could not keep Onigumo from returning for the Shikon no Tama and myself."

"And then what?" Inu-Yasha demanded. "What happened? What happened to Kagome and Miroku and Sango!"

"I believe their energies may have interfered with the spell; they did not exist in that time…"

Inu-Yasha threw up his hands, and stalked to the other side of the shrine and back again, swearing hotly. His face was red, his hands clenched—she'd never seen him in such a state of agitation.

Working the fury from his system, he rounded on her, cutting the air with one hand as if to slice away her arguments. "You're going to tell me how to undo that spell. You're going to bring my friends back from that … that… where-ever you put them! And you're not leaving my sight until you do! Do you understand? You go to far!"

"Too far? _Too _far?_" Kikyou's voice rose steadily, before she got up from the floor. "Who are you to tell me what I will do, for whom?"_

"I won't return to you until the Shikon no Tama is assembled and whole," Inu-Yasha said slowly, a growl beneath his words. "And only Kagome can lead me to the shards."

"So it for the quest, again, that I must bring this girl to you?"

"And Miroku!"  Inu-Yasha added quickly. "And Sango and Shippou! They've all been wronged by Naraku now! You can't deny them their right to vengeance!" 

Kikyou sighed; there would be no arguing at all with her one-time beloved hanyou. He would see his friends returned, or he'd attempt to take Naraku on his own, in their name. Attempts to sway him would be futile at best, infuriating at worst.

"Alright," she finally said, even though the thought of bringing that girl back to his side pained her like the arrow she'd put into his heart. "I will do my best to bring them back to you again."

Inu-Yasha looked at her evenly; his ears and nose did not betray her – she was honest and true. She would keep up her end of the bargain. 

Turning her back to him so she didn't have to see his scowl any longer, Kikyou said,  "You will fetch what I need, and you will do as I tell you." 

His voice was angry, with hurt beneath it. "Fine," he said sulkily

"Then let us begin. Bring me parchment and ink."

Inu-Yasha's heavy, angry footfalls sounded behind her. She knew he'd double check everything she put on the list with her sister Kaede. While he loved her, he no longer trusted her…

And that cut more deeply then Naraku's claws could have ever gone.


	5. Eyes

**Fragment of the Dream**

**A Dark Alternative for Inu-Yasha**

**By Mandy "Seifergrrl" Lever**

**Chapter Four: Eyes**

The wait had been intolerable; while brief, the half an hour they had been left with only each other had fallen to tense silence and miserable worry. The Shikon no Tama was not in the shrine. Inu-Yasha had never been sealed. This world was certainly not the one they knew.

She sees no one, Kagome recalled as the door slid open, not wanting to look up into a reflection of herself, she kept her head down even as she felt something resonate in her breast, her heart clenching painfully. 

Sango's hand was on her own, but still, she would not look up. Don't make me look at her, please, please, don't make me look at this old Kikyou, this Kikyou that lived... Lived without Inu-Yasha!

If she saw a glimmer of herself in that face, she'd die. To live, without Inu-Yasha, for so long... 

"Houshi-sama, Taijya-sama, and…" The voice was Kikyou's; it was reedy with age and lack of strength, but it still held the quiet, unforgiving power of the miko that had been. "And this girl…"

"I'm not a girl!" Kagome found herself snapping, her head lifting before she could stop herself. And then she was staring, the rest of her tirade cut short at the sight of the miko.

She sees no one.

Kikyou saw no one because she had no eyes!

Kagome's own eyes widened in horror, her mouth sagging open, as she looked at the miko; scarred and ill used, this was not the proud, straight-backed Kikyou, the woman who could purify the Shikon no Tama with her touch. This woman… this woman was broken down, ugly, and old.

This woman was not Kagome's future. She could not be. Inu-Yasha would never do this to her.

Four scars ran parallel across her face; dividing eyes, cheekbones, lips; her mouth moved in speech, but Kagome didn't hear her. The lips – scarred and ravaged by claws – were so horrible, the movement of that wound of a mouth so repulsive she thought for a moment she might be ill.

But she felt Sango's hand in hers, cold sweat springing up between their palms, and clenched the taijya's hand.

"Kikyou..."

"Who are you?" the miko asked, probably for the second, maybe third time. Al the same, Kagome could not manage an answer for a moment, before she finally tore her eyes from the sight of the scarred miko.

"I am Higurashi Kagome," she said softly.

"You carry pieces of the Shikon no Tama," Kikyou said, leaving pleasantries for others to indulge in. She began to kneel down before Kagome despite the sound of displeasure that Kagome made. "But the Shikon no Tama is with Inu-Youkai, in the palace to the west, so I must ask how you came to have a piece of a whole gem?"

"I do not know… Inu-Youkai," Kagome said, though already a sliver of fear stabbed at her heart, "But this came from the gem that was found in my body, the Shikon no Tama…" 

"Of another time."

Kagome could not answer. Her head bowed, and she refused to look at the maimed miko.

Sango and Miroku exchanged looks. Miroku cleared his voice; Kikyou did not look back to him when he spoke, "We believe this to be the case. We ran afoul of a spell… I believe meant to reunite…" he stumbled here, his voice failing him for a moment, before he pushed ahead, "a pair of lovers who were rent apart by time and death."

"I see," Kikyou said quietly. "And I am to assume that it went poorly?"

"Yes," Miroku replied. "I do not think it was …her intent to divide our group, merely to …prevent a terrible tragedy in the past that would lead to long separation, and death."

"And your part, Higurashi-san?"

"I am that woman's reincarnation," Kagome answered slowly, her eyes still on her clenched hands, Sango's fingers still gripped in her own, "or so it is said."

Kikyou quietly nodded, and then rose, stepping away from the group. 

"I suggest you travel south. The north is held by the wolf-prince, and he serves as Inu-Youkai's general, while to the east is the sea and the west is only deeper into Inu-Youkai's lands." She did not look back at them, their eyes spared her scarred face. "You will not be safe here." 

Silence lingered as the three exchanged looks, but said nothing for the longest time. Was the Wolf Prince Kouga? Inu-Youkai truly Inu-Yasha? Did nothing make any sense here?

"We have to try the well," Kagome finally said. "If … if the Goshinboku was used to alter time, then perhaps, the well might reconnect us to the right time." She looked to Sango and Miroku. They couldn't cross the well, could they? Shippou hadn't, when he had fallen in, the shards of the shikon in his possession. It had only brought Kagome to him, not taken him to Kagome's time.

Could she leave her friends here?

Looking to Miroku's hand, whole beneath the glove, she could not help but think it might be better for him to stay here, where there was no Naraku.

"So try it," Kikyou said, finally turning back to them. "But do it soon. The time of the tithe draw nigh, and I would not suggest you show your face when the Wolf Prince comes to collect the bride of Inu-Youkai."

"The what?" all three blurted in unison.

"Bride?"

"Of Inu-Youkai?"

"What is going on in this village?"

"This village, like the others in the area, is under the control of Inu-Youkai," Kikyou said quietly, her wounded mouth making Kagome's stomach churn. "He takes his tithe in village girls, whom he keeps for a year, as his bride, and returns to us, poorly used."

"Inu…Yasha. His name was Inu-Yasha."

Kikyou did not seem surprised that Kagome knew this; she merely nodded. "Yes, it once was. But no longer. The hanyou is dead. A youkai lives in his place."

"What happened?" Kagome finally asked the question that had been foremost in his mind.

"He was mad," Kikyou said, and Kagome knew it was a lie. If she was still hiding their affair, after all of these years, then she would never tell them the truth.

"You were lovers!" Kagome blurted, finally getting a ripple of surprise to spread across Kikyou's face. "At least, you were going to be. You were going to purify him with the Shikon no Tama, and eat away his human blood. But you were prevented…Murdered on the eve of your elopement by…a terrible youkai."

Kikyou seemed to look to Kagome – or perhaps, looked through her. "Perhaps," she said again. "This is what occurred in your time. But that is not what occurred here."

"So tell us what happened!" Kagome begged. "Tell us, so I…"

"So you know what has happened to your beloved, here and now?" Kikyou's lips twisted, her sneer only enhanced by the slashes across her flesh. "He is no more. Any man you or I might have loved died when he gave up his heart for the Shikon no Tama."

"But why?" Kagome demanded, half-rising; Sango reached out for her, but she could not be consoled. "Why? He loved you! He still loves you! He's willing to endure hell for you!"

Kikyou's brows arched, but she shook her head. "He thought I was faithless, that I had another. It was not so. But he murdered the man he thought was mine, and took his revenge on me."

Kagome calmed slightly, and Sango pulled her back into her seat; the taijya's hand found hers again and its mate sought to soothe Kagome by stroking her back.

"With you out of the way, he took the Shikon no Tama and became youkai," Miroku finished for them all. 

"Daiyoukai," Kikyou said. "He has displaced his brother as Prince of the West, and hate fed his power. With the shikon no tama growing stronger with the hate and suffering in his heart…" She shook her head. "He was unstoppable."

There was no scar on the Goshinboku, because Kikyou had been nearly slain in the field, bloodied and ravaged by claw and fang. There was no life in the village, because there was no hope. There was no hope because there was no Inu-Yasha.

Kagome's despair could not be abated; tears welled in her eyes, despite everything. "I can't believe this. I can't!" she murmured helplessly. "I can't believe… that he'd become a monster…"

"Kagome…" Sango murmured, "Please, this isn't… our Inu-Yasha."

"I don't care!" she cried. "I don't care! No Inu-Yasha could be turned so black inside!" She was on her feet again; Sango and Miroku quickly rose to pursue her, but Kikyou did not move.

"Love is not far from hate," was all the miko said. "Vengeance is not far from compassion. And the hanyou is not far from the youkai."

"I don't believe you!" Kagome cried again, and then she was running, running out of the shrine, down the steps, taking them three at a time, even though she stumbled, even though she knew if she fell, she'd break something.

Finally her ankle gave and she twisted in her fall; she hit the wooden steps and rolled hard, taking six more till she hit the bottom.

She lay there, sobbing – not from the pain in her ankle, in her scraped legs, or her bruised arms. 

She sobbed for Inu-Yasha.

Soon Sango and Miroku were at her side, helping her up, holding her steady; Miroku's shoulder was warm, his robes easy to hold as she wept; she was only dimly aware that the monk held her as she cried, and that Sango completed the circle, her body against Kagome's back, as they protected and comforted her as best they could.

"What will we do?" whispered Sango, as Kagome's sobs ebbed away into sniffles.

"I am uncertain. We cannot go far," Miroku replied.

"We'll stay," Kagome said. "If the wolves are coming for this Inu-Youkai's bride, I want to see them."

"Will we fight?" Sango asked, as she drew away from, them both. Kagome nodded, her pain solidifying, becoming resolute determination.

"We won't let them take another girl from this village," Kagome said simply. "And if we're lucky, one will be able to help us find this Inu-Youkai."

Miroku looked between the two of them, and then nodded quietly. "It's decided, then. But first, let us see to your injuries, Kagome." Something in his tone refused argument, and he nudged her back toward the steps; Kagome limped along beside him, supported by his arm on one side, Sango's on the other.

But even if her steps were unsteady, her plan was crystallized. She wouldn't let this demon make a mockery of her Inu-Yasha.


End file.
